Indeed, unless Skara Brae was an unreferenced 'city of the plains' per Bard's Tale 2's wilderness, elsewhere in the "realm", Bard's Tale 2 had absolutley zero reference to Skara Brae. That would be a little correction to make in the BT4 lore, if adopting the BT1-3 stories as prelude to BT4.
There was 1 reference to Skara Brae that I can find, in the BT2 manual at the beginning of
Saradon's letter.
I have to say, I like the sound of Barrows Deep, though it does seem pretty typical, not really hinting or teasing at something unusual or mysterious. It has a very Lord of the Rings type of fantasy feel, but as Drool mentioned it doesn't really follow the legacy of the past games' subtitles.
I do like the idea better of referring to a 'hero' in some manner as 1-3 did. The "bard's tale" is (are each) about the people, not a location. Even if the hero is not directly a 'class' (the Destiny Knight was another name for the archmage-turned-ultimate-fighter with the wand, the Bard is the hero in BT1, and the Thief of Fate referred to the easy/intended way to win by using the thief's unique skills). Unless the "Barrow" is a unique creature or being that'll become pivotal in the plot. lol
So, the plus: I like the
sound of Barrow's Deep. But honestly that's about as far as it goes (again coming from the perspective of a sequel being true to the originals)
The alpha? Definitely looking forward to the access.
Minimum system requirements? ;P